Someone is highly agitated about paying to park, and they’re not a trucker

May 21, 2018

I just witnessed a meltdown on Facebook about the eight whole dollars it costs to park and play out in the boonies off of Pacific Coast Highway. I almost got out my tiny violin to play a sad song, but then I realized the person having a fit probably has no idea the real struggle with parking.

He’s mad because he has to pay to park so he can boogie board in the ocean.

When he moved to California 30 years ago, you could park at 40000 Pacific Coast Highway for free and boogie all day long without paying $8.

I feel like this is a verdant opportunity to educate the general public about a common thread they might have with truckers and not even know it.

The rotating orb of rock and fire we inhabit has the same amount of square footage it did when Og needed a place to park his cave buggy. Parking was plentiful back in the day because Og was one of about 6,000 humans on the planet. Og never had to pay to park because Betty and Barney never needed the space. There was plenty of room for cave buggies, even the ones with a 300-inch wheelbase.

Og not pay.

Fast forward several thousand years to 1987 and note the population has increased by about 5 billion people yet square footage of aforementioned orb has remained the same. Traipse on down the timeline to 2018, add a few billion more people, and violà – you have a very incensed boogie boarder who’s mad about paying to park.

It’s not rocket science. Space is at a premium, and if you intend to take up any of it you might have to pay.

Try having to pay to park at the end of every workday just so you can be compliant with federal regulations. I’d hate to see this ol’ boy be charged $20 every single night just to remain within the limits of the law.

He’d blow a gasket.

Whether or not you agree with paying to park, facts remain the same. It costs money to maintain parking lots. There aren’t enough spaces for the trucks on the road. The square footage of Earth has not increased. It is not going to. Ever.

Mr. Boogie Board may just have to get used to the fact that he has to pay $8 to park by the ocean. And, as much as I’ve tried, I can’t really work up any sympathy for him. Screaming, “Welcome to our world, Scooter!” seems appropriate but, in retrospect, if he knew anything about “our world” he’d be ashamed to gripe about paying $8 to play in the ocean. At least he should be. Especially when there are drivers who are willing to pay to park and still can’t find a space.

So do us a favor, pass this on to the folks you know who are unaffiliated with trucking. People who are unaware of the cost and pressure the simple act of stopping to rest causes in a driver’s day. People like your representative in Congress, who has likely never seen the inside of a truck.

They don’t know until you tell ’em. And if you tell ’em and they ignore you, they have no excuse for ignoring the problem. Send them home. They work for you.

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Tandem Thoughts is where the Land Line media team shares opinions, commentary, humor, videos and candid discussion. We drop honesty bombs, we poke fun, we offer provocative analysis of news and events of interest to truckers. No topic is off-limits.